Suggested, Simple, Improvement to GA Matchmaking

Nightsister Zombie was reworked because players were deliberately keeping the zombie undergeared, as they were essentially punished for making the zombie better. Hence the g10 reworked zombie. Grand Arena is also punishing players for improving characters. Territory Battles requires a lot of GP, and all areas of the game encourage improving your roster, but GA encourages a laser focus on specific teams while ignoring all others.
One possible solution is actually very simple. For GA matchmaking, simply ignore characters and ships below a certain GP value. Make it 6k like TW, or whatever number is preferred. This means players who used some characters for awhile as newbies won't have those characters inflating their GP scores. Simply unlocking a character won't further inflate our GP. Characters who are being farmed but are still far from useful won't damage us. People who leveled up lots of characters to 50 to throw mods on them for the GP value in TB won't be punished. And so on.
GA actively punishes us for improving a wide range of characters, and is the only game mode to do so. This is a simple way to fix it that doesn't require lots of complex code (TW already does it) or convoluted matchmaking algorithms. As GA doesn't even unlock until level 85, restricting the characters to those of 6k GP value doesn't hurt the game mode. Please consider this simple change.

Nightsister Zombie was reworked because players were deliberately keeping the zombie undergeared, as they were essentially punished for making the zombie better. Hence the g10 reworked zombie. Grand Arena is also punishing players for improving characters.

Wrong. A g12 CUP will always be stronger than a g6 CUP if used in GA.

What you discuss regarding GA matchmaking is a completely different issue than the paper zombie issue.

But why shouldnt people with a laser focus on being competitive get an advantage?

People with a laser focus will still have an advantage, the standard g8 7* toon has around 12,000 power. Making the cutoff at like 10k power would hold out mostly gear 7 and below and wouldn't make people who used some characters to learn how to play the game early on get harder matchups because they took more toons to learn how to play the game. But would still cause people with excessively inflated GP rosters to have a disadvantage as those gear 8 toons would still be counted in.

the thing is it appears that each GA needs 30 toons on defense and lets say 30 on offence. So what they should done is use the GA for the top 90 toons and if there is a fleet battle say top 3 capital ships and top 20 ships. then no way is the bottom of the roster effecting the matching process and the player can still inflate those characters to help their guild in TB.

But why shouldnt people with a laser focus on being competitive get an advantage?

People with a laser focus will still have an advantage, the standard g8 7* toon has around 12,000 power. Making the cutoff at like 10k power would hold out mostly gear 7 and below and wouldn't make people who used some characters to learn how to play the game early on get harder matchups because they took more toons to learn how to play the game. But would still cause people with excessively inflated GP rosters to have a disadvantage as those gear 8 toons would still be counted in.

But you want to lessen their advantage because you made different choices. We all had the same opportunity to develop, some had a more competitive focus, due to many factors, but nothing is stopping you now from developing to accomplish your goals.

But you want to lessen their advantage because you made different choices. We all had the same opportunity to develop, some had a more competitive focus, due to many factors, but nothing is stopping you now from developing to accomplish your goals.

I fundamentally disagree with this. We did not all have the same opportunities; those who are playing alternate accounts have potentially years of experience with the game, while newer players on their first account are therefore disadvantaged.

I am not suggesting alternate accounts should be unduly punished. Players willing to restart the game should have an advantage of experience and all that experience entails. But GA heavily favors those alt accounts that have 20 characters at 7* and g10+ and nothing else but the starter toons even unlocked. It is incredibly unlikely any new player on their first account can compete with that.

Should we make sure all can compete at everything? No, no we should not. Those alt accounts will be better at raids. They will wreck Arena and Fleet Arena. They will punch above their level in TW. They will dominate GA as it stands now. Only TB platoons and some events will be outside their reach.

Compare that to new, 1st account folks. They will do much worse in Arena and Fleet Arena. They are less likely to be in a decent guild, so will do fine in raids but only the low tiers. If they do get into a better guild, they will struggle to contribute meaningfully in raids and TW. They may contribute in the lower phases of TB, but that's about it.

Grand Arena was supposed to pit us against comparable opponents. It was a chance for the little guy to fight other little guys, while the big guys duke it out in new ways. But I find it is no different from regular arena- I smash players who have no idea what they are doing (not even setting mods), and get smashed by alternate accounts, regardless of whether they are F2P or P2P.

Nightsister Zombie was reworked because players were deliberately keeping the zombie undergeared, as they were essentially punished for making the zombie better. Hence the g10 reworked zombie. Grand Arena is also punishing players for improving characters.

Wrong. A g12 CUP will always be stronger than a g6 CUP if used in GA.

What you discuss regarding GA matchmaking is a completely different issue than the paper zombie issue.

I took the paper zombie idea and applied it to an account instead of a single character. An account with dozens of characters will be slaughtered in GA when pitted against an account with a third as many characters. So the game is encouraging having less stuff over more stuff, similar to old zombie encouraging less gear over more gear.

The more I think about it, the less I like this analogy, even if it does still have some merit.

But you want to lessen their advantage because you made different choices. We all had the same opportunity to develop, some had a more competitive focus, due to many factors, but nothing is stopping you now from developing to accomplish your goals.

I fundamentally disagree with this. We did not all have the same opportunities; those who are playing alternate accounts have potentially years of experience with the game, while newer players on their first account are therefore disadvantaged.

I am not suggesting alternate accounts should be unduly punished. Players willing to restart the game should have an advantage of experience and all that experience entails. But GA heavily favors those alt accounts that have 20 characters at 7* and g10+ and nothing else but the starter toons even unlocked. It is incredibly unlikely any new player on their first account can compete with that.

Should we make sure all can compete at everything? No, no we should not. Those alt accounts will be better at raids. They will wreck Arena and Fleet Arena. They will punch above their level in TW. They will dominate GA as it stands now. Only TB platoons and some events will be outside their reach.

Compare that to new, 1st account folks. They will do much worse in Arena and Fleet Arena. They are less likely to be in a decent guild, so will do fine in raids but only the low tiers. If they do get into a better guild, they will struggle to contribute meaningfully in raids and TW. They may contribute in the lower phases of TB, but that's about it.

Grand Arena was supposed to pit us against comparable opponents. It was a chance for the little guy to fight other little guys, while the big guys duke it out in new ways. But I find it is no different from regular arena- I smash players who have no idea what they are doing (not even setting mods), and get smashed by alternate accounts, regardless of whether they are F2P or P2P.

If GA plays out the same as Arena, why have it?

Did they cheat? Did they do anything underhanded or wrong ?

Did they build this roster at the same pace as everyone else?

So because someone used knowledge they learned over previous years, they shouldnt be able to use that knowledge?

How do you know they didnt just start and joined a guild that gave them great advice?

There is no reason that someone starting at the same time as someone else cant learn and make better/good choices and be in a good place. Nothing happens instantly and it's always possible to make a good plan or change a plan to develop better.

So because someone used knowledge they learned over previous years, they shouldn't be able to use that knowledge?

How do you know they didn't just start and joined a guild that gave them great advice?

There is no reason that someone starting at the same time as someone else cant learn and make better/good choices and be in a good place. Nothing happens instantly and it's always possible to make a good plan or change a plan to develop better.

I'm not trying to say anybody did anything wrong, or it wasn't fair, or whine about my poor choices, or whatever. I literally think the game mode is flawed and would be better a different way.

You seem defensive. Mayhaps you have an alt account and thought I was attacking you; this is not the case. There are several poor decisions in SW:GoH design related to low-level content and I don't want GA to repeat those problems, where it works well for established players but not so well for newer players. And if you believe the game would be just fine without many new players, or that they should "put in their time" and the game should never improve, we will simply need to agree to disagree.

So because someone used knowledge they learned over previous years, they shouldn't be able to use that knowledge?

How do you know they didn't just start and joined a guild that gave them great advice?

There is no reason that someone starting at the same time as someone else cant learn and make better/good choices and be in a good place. Nothing happens instantly and it's always possible to make a good plan or change a plan to develop better.

I'm not trying to say anybody did anything wrong, or it wasn't fair, or whine about my poor choices, or whatever. I literally think the game mode is flawed and would be better a different way.

You seem defensive. Mayhaps you have an alt account and thought I was attacking you; this is not the case. There are several poor decisions in SW:GoH design related to low-level content and I don't want GA to repeat those problems, where it works well for established players but not so well for newer players. And if you believe the game would be just fine without many new players, or that they should "put in their time" and the game should never improve, we will simply need to agree to disagree.

No I dont, not for that purpose, it pulls in crystals and puts up 600 if we have issues. One account is enough to manage.

There is just a fair amount of people attacking others because when it comes down to it, people are being out classed. Players that have extremely competitive rosters made good choice, and worked to get there.

The game should always try to make things move forward and help players progress, but they dont need to have anything handed to them. Players who make good choices shouldnt be punished either, and if you think that we can simply agree to disagree.

There is just a fair amount of people attacking others because when it comes down to it, people are being out classed. Players that have extremely competitive rosters made good choice, and worked to get there.

The game should always try to make things move forward and help players progress, but they dont need to have anything handed to them. Players who make good choices shouldnt be punished either, and if you think that we can simply agree to disagree.

I have accepted that I would always be outclassed. I'm not a whale, and therefore I'll always be beat in Arena/Fleet Arena. If that bothered me I wouldn't be playing mobile games. But that's why GA hurts- it should be a format that most people can be competitive in.

As I consider this further, there is perhaps a difference in playstyle to consider- is accruing rewards for little effort what makes the game fun, or is the gameplay what makes the game fun? I think this is a subjective question. For me, the gameplay is king. For others, it may be simply collecting characters, or being the absolute best and smashing everyone with no effort. I'm not going to judge these different styles, though my suggestion was focused on gameplay- I didn't consider even competition to be a punishment for anyone, but if a player is only interested in maximizing rewards and not enjoying competitive gameplay, then this would certainly feel like a punishment to that player.

That brings us back full circle to what they are trying to achieve with GA. Existing Arenas reward the best possible players; if they want all players to feel they can win in the new GA, they need to deflate GP. If the goal is to continue rewarding the best possible players, they should leave it alone. Both goals are accomplished as-is among high-end players, as they all have about the same stuff. Among low-end players, the differences are more severe.

From a business perspective, the question becomes money. How much do alternate accounts spend? How many new people are they retaining, and do they spend? How often can a new person manage to build an account that is focused enough to compete with the alt accounts, and does this type of person spend? Which playstyle is preferred by the group that spends the most money? I obviously can't answer these questions, but I hope CG is looking at them instead of just ignoring the low-end scene.

Then again, since they hit us several times in a row with GA and now look to be slowing down to once a month, maybe these issues are all blown out of proportion anyway. Losing GA against impossible odds once a month is much less frustrating than losing it once a week. The rewards so far haven't really mattered much, though I do expect that will change. All things to think about I guess.

I find it funny that people with top heavy rosters consider it punishment to change the matching so they would have more evenly matched battles. In the GA we have had so far I have not fared badly with a #2,#3 and I think #6 ranking. For me the rounds were most fun when the matches were close like my one round were I won by only 5 points. If players are so unevenly matched they just stop playing as the rewards are not worth the frustration knowing you can't win. i have been lucky and have only twice had someone not attempt to win which i feel like hollow victories. The people complaining that a top heavy roster should rewarded are just silly. There is no right way or wrong way to play a game. I personally play for the events so my goal is to get every character to 7* level 85 and max Gear so I can complete everything. New events, new challenges and new Characters are what drive me to play. I don't care about Arena a I am playing for myself and my Guild and not some arbitrary leader board that does not nothing to tell me how good my roster is. So no matter how many Arena's thy put into the game it will not change my playing habits. What it has done though is reduce how much I do spend on the game. I used to try to give the game an average of $5 a month but I stopped as the game became more money hungry and whales control everything. I can't compete so i just play the game for fun knowing I will get everything eventually and I do not need to be on the bleeding edge of metas because mostly likely the developers will nerf them anyway and all that money would be for not.

I find it funny that people with top heavy rosters consider it punishment to change the matching so they would have more evenly matched battles. In the GA we have had so far I have not fared badly with a #2,#3 and I think #6 ranking. For me the rounds were most fun when the matches were close like my one round were I won by only 5 points. If players are so unevenly matched they just stop playing as the rewards are not worth the frustration knowing you can't win. i have been lucky and have only twice had someone not attempt to win which i feel like hollow victories. The people complaining that a top heavy roster should rewarded are just silly. There is no right way or wrong way to play a game. I personally play for the events so my goal is to get every character to 7* level 85 and max Gear so I can complete everything. New events, new challenges and new Characters are what drive me to play. I don't care about Arena a I am playing for myself and my Guild and not some arbitrary leader board that does not nothing to tell me how good my roster is. So no matter how many Arena's thy put into the game it will not change my playing habits. What it has done though is reduce how much I do spend on the game. I used to try to give the game an average of $5 a month but I stopped as the game became more money hungry and whales control everything. I can't compete so i just play the game for fun knowing I will get everything eventually and I do not need to be on the bleeding edge of metas because mostly likely the developers will nerf them anyway and all that money would be for not.

I agree there are no wrong ways to play the game as long as you’re having fun, but there are definitely ways that are more or less effective for particular game modes. If you build your roster to be effective at the Sith Raid, you have an advantage in the Sith Raid. If my roster is more effective in Grand Arena, why shouldn’t I have an advantage in Grand Arena? If matches were always perfectly even, I could never get an advantage in GA by trying to tailor my roster more effectively towards it because I would always get matched against somebody else who did the same.

No offence to OP, but.... why do you have to great at every facet of the game? Seems like a frivolous complaint.

I'm a laser-focused player. It's taken me a long time to be able to contribute to TW like my other guildmates, to do as much damage in the raids. My guildmates who used the Maximize-my-GP strategy have been wrecking for a lot longer than I have. Now, Grand Arena comes up and I'm doing really well (I took 2nd in two and 1st in one) and they're having mixed results.

Like Kyno said, it isn't a punishment to you and other players with bloated rosters. It's just a side-effect of a new dynamic in the game. Not every aspect of this game needs to be catered to you and not everything needs to be convenient. Fairness and convenience are not synonymous.

There is just a fair amount of people attacking others because when it comes down to it, people are being out classed. Players that have extremely competitive rosters made good choice, and worked to get there.

There are a fair amount of people attacking others because when it comes down to it, they are afraid of facing equally strong opponents. Players that have extremely competitive rosters should be pitted against other such players, not given easy wins against inferior rosters.

There is just a fair amount of people attacking others because when it comes down to it, people are being out classed. Players that have extremely competitive rosters made good choice, and worked to get there.

There are a fair amount of people attacking others because when it comes down to it, they are afraid of facing equally strong opponents. Players that have extremely competitive rosters should be pitted against other such players, not given easy wins against inferior rosters.

But why should they, if rewards are the same? If you have 4 people, 2 with competitive rosters and two with (your words) inferior rosters, why should one of the people with the competitive roster have to get lower rewards so that one of the people with the inferior roster can get higher rewards?

There is just a fair amount of people attacking others because when it comes down to it, people are being out classed. Players that have extremely competitive rosters made good choice, and worked to get there.

There are a fair amount of people attacking others because when it comes down to it, they are afraid of facing equally strong opponents. Players that have extremely competitive rosters should be pitted against other such players, not given easy wins against inferior rosters.

No one is being given anything. They are being randomly matched against players that have made similar investments but different choices.

No offence to OP, but.... why do you have to great at every facet of the game? Seems like a frivolous complaint.

I'm a laser-focused player. It's taken me a long time to be able to contribute to TW like my other guildmates, to do as much damage in the raids. My guildmates who used the Maximize-my-GP strategy have been wrecking for a lot longer than I have. Now, Grand Arena comes up and I'm doing really well (I took 2nd in two and 1st in one) and they're having mixed results.

Like Kyno said, it isn't a punishment to you and other players with bloated rosters. It's just a side-effect of a new dynamic in the game. Not every aspect of this game needs to be catered to you and not everything needs to be convenient. Fairness and convenience are not synonymous.

If you want convenience, you can buy it from EA.

Actually, that's the opposite of the problem. I was hoping for one type of pvp mode that I could actually be great at. Arena and Fleet Arena heavily favor players who put all their efforts into as few characters as possible. TW is the same- get the right defensive team set and it doesn't matter that you only put down one.

A laser-focus is not bad. It should not be punished. I do not want to change the existing game modes to cater to me. I purposely built my account to hit as many events as possible, and that I can do well.

The issue I suppose is expectations. I had thought GA would be a pvp mode that less-focused accounts could actually compete in, as they would compete against each other while more focused accounts competed against each other. As it stands, GA is a pvp mode that favors the same play style as the other arena modes. As mentioned in one of my admittedly-long posts above, if that is what CG was aiming for then they shouldn't change anything. If they want more competitive matchups, the existing matchmaker needs to be changed.

If the problem is casual player main accounts vs super tuned alt accounts, why doesn't the casual player make a super focused alt account too?

As others have pointed out, it's about choices. If I spend $50,000 on a nice big luxury car, and another guy spends $50,000 on a stripped down sports car, why should I feel entitled to be as fast as him?

No offence to OP, but.... why do you have to great at every facet of the game? Seems like a frivolous complaint.

I'm a laser-focused player. It's taken me a long time to be able to contribute to TW like my other guildmates, to do as much damage in the raids. My guildmates who used the Maximize-my-GP strategy have been wrecking for a lot longer than I have. Now, Grand Arena comes up and I'm doing really well (I took 2nd in two and 1st in one) and they're having mixed results.

Like Kyno said, it isn't a punishment to you and other players with bloated rosters. It's just a side-effect of a new dynamic in the game. Not every aspect of this game needs to be catered to you and not everything needs to be convenient. Fairness and convenience are not synonymous.

If you want convenience, you can buy it from EA.

Actually, that's the opposite of the problem. I was hoping for one type of pvp mode that I could actually be great at. Arena and Fleet Arena heavily favor players who put all their efforts into as few characters as possible. TW is the same- get the right defensive team set and it doesn't matter that you only put down one.

A laser-focus is not bad. It should not be punished. I do not want to change the existing game modes to cater to me. I purposely built my account to hit as many events as possible, and that I can do well.

The issue I suppose is expectations. I had thought GA would be a pvp mode that less-focused accounts could actually compete in, as they would compete against each other while more focused accounts competed against each other. As it stands, GA is a pvp mode that favors the same play style as the other arena modes. As mentioned in one of my admittedly-long posts above, if that is what CG was aiming for then they shouldn't change anything. If they want more competitive matchups, the existing matchmaker needs to be changed.

As the dev team stated, (paraphrasing), you can test yourself to be the beat in your shard, GA is here to see who is the best in SWGOH. So I think that pretty much shows what they are looking for.

I would also think that a wider roster is more rewarded here than in arena, because you will get use of your width, but if your goal was width you are not going to be as competitive as those that focused on this style of TW game play.

As others have pointed out, it's about choices. If I spend $50,000 on a nice big luxury car, and another guy spends $50,000 on a stripped down sports car, why should I feel entitled to be as fast as him?

There is just a fair amount of people attacking others because when it comes down to it, people are being out classed. Players that have extremely competitive rosters made good choice, and worked to get there.

There are a fair amount of people attacking others because when it comes down to it, they are afraid of facing equally strong opponents. Players that have extremely competitive rosters should be pitted against other such players, not given easy wins against inferior rosters.

No one is being given anything. They are being randomly matched against players that have made similar investments but different choices.

LOL!

So which is it:
a) people are being outclassed by extremely competitive rosters, or
b) matchmaking is totally random and thus magically fair?

Because being randomly matched against an extremely competitive roster is far from fair for the weaker player, nor is it remotely challenging for the extremely competitive player.

Only a complete tool would be on the upside of that match and consider themselves skillful for winning a ROFLstomp.

There is just a fair amount of people attacking others because when it comes down to it, people are being out classed. Players that have extremely competitive rosters made good choice, and worked to get there.

There are a fair amount of people attacking others because when it comes down to it, they are afraid of facing equally strong opponents. Players that have extremely competitive rosters should be pitted against other such players, not given easy wins against inferior rosters.

No one is being given anything. They are being randomly matched against players that have made similar investments but different choices.

LOL!

So which is it:
a) people are being outclassed by extremely competitive rosters, or
b) matchmaking is totally random and thus magically fair?

Because being randomly matched against an extremely competitive roster is far from fair for the weaker player, nor is it remotely challenging for the extremely competitive player.

Only a complete tool would be on the upside of that match and consider themselves skillful for winning a ROFLstomp.

when did i say totally random. we are all matched by GP which is a quantitative measure of our investment. how competitive a roster is, is made by the choices a player made while developing.

There are a fair amount of people attacking others because when it comes down to it, they are afraid of facing equally strong opponents. Players that have extremely competitive rosters should be pitted against other such players, not given easy wins against inferior rosters.

This! The game mode should give you roughly equally strong opponents. Otherwise where is the challenge? Where is the fun if the match is already decided before the match starts?

I really, really like the idea of GA. The different formats were lots of fun. And it is very interesting to try and think a bit out of the box and analyse your opponent and see who comes out on top. As a game this should be it's main purpose: provide entertainment and fun so that people continue playing it and spend money on it.

The matches against similarly strong opponents were fun. Those against sizeably stronger or weaker ones were not. It was more a chore than fun. This game has a lot of those chore like aspects that were challenging once but now are only there to collect your rewards but are not really fun anymore. As a pvp mode GA has the pretty unique potential to stay fresh and entertaining for a long, long time. please don't waste this opportunity via inferior matchmaking!

From my experience GP matchmaking was not as bad as I initially feared but could certainly easily be improved to better reflect the actual competitiveness of the roster. That would make for more fun and entertaining parings in my opinion.

Alternatively you could simply increase the amount of defensive slots quite a bit. This would lead to some serious decisions on what to keep for offense or defense and on whether to split up a top team into maybe two good ones.

Actually, that's the opposite of the problem. I was hoping for one type of pvp mode that I could actually be great at. Arena and Fleet Arena heavily favor players who put all their efforts into as few characters as possible.

I don't know where you're getting this from. Arena and Fleet Arena heavily favor players who put their efforts into the right characters for those modes; however, those modes don't care how many characters you gear up -- I'm at 3.6m gp; there are people in my regular and fleet arena shards well over 4m gp, and some people under 3m gp still. Doesn't matter -- I still compete with them if they have 80 g12s or 8, as long as it's the right 8.

I don't know where you're getting this from. Arena and Fleet Arena heavily favor players who put their efforts into the right characters for those modes; however, those modes don't care how many characters you gear up -- I'm at 3.6m gp; there are people in my regular and fleet arena shards well over 4m gp, and some people under 3m gp still. Doesn't matter -- I still compete with them if they have 80 g12s or 8, as long as it's the right 8.

I have just over 450k GP in characters. If I want to reach top 15 or so in Arena in my shard right now, I'd need 20-25% of my entire roster's power concentrated into a single 5-man g12 team. On top of that, I'd need whatever characters are necessary to farm the right squad, be that Revan, or Traya, etc. Depending on which team I wanted, between the actual 5-man squad and those needed to acquire them it's likely I'd have 1/3 or more of my entire character GP behind my single 5-man Arena squad.

For Fleet Arena in my shard, I'd need 7 ships at a total GP level of about 230k to reach rank 15. Thankfully the pilots/ships don't need extra characters to acquire (only one Chimaera in my shard), but that's still 7-10+ high-gear pilots and their ships. My entire ship GP is 330k.

To reach rank 15 in both Arena and Fleet, I estimate at least 60% of my character GP and 70% of my ship GP would be used in, or to get, the 12-15+ characters needed for the squad and pilots plus their ships. So yes, the arena modes themselves don't care how much fluff your account has, but to be truly competitive there at my GP, I'd have to be pretty trim.

I don't know where you're getting this from. Arena and Fleet Arena heavily favor players who put their efforts into the right characters for those modes; however, those modes don't care how many characters you gear up -- I'm at 3.6m gp; there are people in my regular and fleet arena shards well over 4m gp, and some people under 3m gp still. Doesn't matter -- I still compete with them if they have 80 g12s or 8, as long as it's the right 8.

I have just over 450k GP in characters. If I want to reach top 15 or so in Arena in my shard right now, I'd need 20-25% of my entire roster's power concentrated into a single 5-man g12 team. On top of that, I'd need whatever characters are necessary to farm the right squad, be that Revan, or Traya, etc. Depending on which team I wanted, between the actual 5-man squad and those needed to acquire them it's likely I'd have 1/3 or more of my entire character GP behind my single 5-man Arena squad.

For Fleet Arena in my shard, I'd need 7 ships at a total GP level of about 230k to reach rank 15. Thankfully the pilots/ships don't need extra characters to acquire (only one Chimaera in my shard), but that's still 7-10+ high-gear pilots and their ships. My entire ship GP is 330k.

To reach rank 15 in both Arena and Fleet, I estimate at least 60% of my character GP and 70% of my ship GP would be used in, or to get, the 12-15+ characters needed for the squad and pilots plus their ships. So yes, the arena modes themselves don't care how much fluff your account has, but to be truly competitive there at my GP, I'd have to be pretty trim.

The arenas favor people with complete teams, yes. That doesn't mean the person with the fewest maxed out characters will win, it means people with the right characters who are maxed out will win. At your GP level, that's somewhat close to the same thing, but you're free to continue to develop additional characters once your arena teams are geared, without it somehow impacting your arena ranking. Your GP level is very low though, and that will change significantly.

The arenas favor people with complete teams, yes. That doesn't mean the person with the fewest maxed out characters will win, it means people with the right characters who are maxed out will win. At your GP level, that's somewhat close to the same thing, but you're free to continue to develop additional characters once your arena teams are geared, without it somehow impacting your arena ranking. Your GP level is very low though, and that will change significantly.

Funny thing about this game, 750k GP is considered "very low" by just about everyone, even though it has taken me three months of daily play to get here, often hours a day. Obviously in an absolute sense, 750k is waaay lower than 3-4 million, and three months much less than two years or whatnot. I get the feeling CG spends little to no time on content or testing for my "stage" in the game.

Which to some degree makes sense. CG's revenue is likely coming from accounts with much higher GP than mine. Some pretty questionable design choices in the low-end content though. GA's matchmaking might be another one of those choices that simply wasn't thought out for folks at my stage.